UN S-G’s wife Mrs. Nane Annan pays visit to IVI Underscores importance of vaccine to fulfilling UN Millennium Development Goals Mrs. Nane Annan, the wife of Mr. Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General, visited the International Vaccine Institute on May 15 during the couple’s three-day visit to the Republic of Korea. The IVI, based in Seoul, Korea, is an independent international organization created as an initiative of the UN. Mrs. Annan took a tour of the IVI headquarters building and its state-of-the-art laboratories, donated by the Korean government, after being briefed on the Institute by IVI Deputy Director General, Dr. Luis Jodar. During the hour-long visit, she also addressed participants of IVI’s annual International Advanced Course on Vaccinology for the Asia-Pacific Regions, a week-long training program attended by about 90 experts from 28 countries. In her remarks at the IVI, Mrs. Annan, who has keen interest in the welfare of women and children, stressed the importance of vaccines to children’s health, and lauded IVI’s contribution to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to significantly improve the human condition by 2015. Mrs. Annan said, “IVI’s work is directly related to at least four MDGs, and IVI is playing a critical role in fulfilling those goals.” The four Goals include: ‘eradicating extreme poverty and hunger,’ ‘reducing child mortality,’ ‘combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases,’ and ‘developing a global partnership for development.’ “By visiting the IVI headquarters in person, Mrs. Annan has underscored the importance of IVI’s mission in attaining the MDGs,” said Dr. Jodar, who received Mrs. Annan on behalf of IVI Director General, Dr. John Clemens. “The IVI is committed to fighting diseases for the world’s poor through the development and accelerated deployment of vaccines.” Initiated as a seed project of the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), the Institute was established as an autonomous international organization in 1997 and is governed by a Board of Trustees, where three of its 21 seats are filled by UN agencies, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNDP. With 37 countries and WHO as Signatories to its charter, the IVI is also the first international organization to be hosted by Korea. Welcoming Mrs. Annan, Prof. Cho Wan-kyoo, former chairman of the Korea Support Committee (KSC) and one of founding fathers of the IVI, urged a broader international support for the Institute. “We hope to see more countries joining the IVI charter, and additional donors pooling resources to ensure the success of IVI’s humanitarian efforts.” Meanwhile, earlier on May 3, a delegation led by the Minister of Health, Allah Kouadia Remi, of Cote d’Ivoire visited IVI to discuss ways for cooperation during its visit to Korea.